Chapter 1: Accident
Generally, the beginning of stories like this one is set on a dark and stormy night. However, this tale does not begin that way. In fact, the night was warm, with a full moon shining brightly in the sky and reflecting upon the sea.
It was, so to speak, an idyllic scene: a young couple enjoying a small romantic getaway. In their youthful minds, there was no better way to go on a date than a nighttime walk along the beach. At least, that had been the young man's idea—one he hoped would earn him a few extra points with the beautiful girl whom, with all his heart, he believed to be the love of his life.
At some point during their walk, they decided to take a short break, sitting atop one of the many sand dunes along the shore. From there, they watched as the moon slowly began to sink below the horizon. However, in a twist worthy of a horror story, they failed to notice that there was nothing natural about the moon's disappearance, which plunged the sky into complete darkness. Shortly after the gloom took hold of the place, a loud cracking sound echoed, followed a second later by the unmistakable noise of something striking the sand.
Soon, the darkness that had flooded the area dissipated, allowing the starlight and the early dawn to slowly return, leaving the young couple with a rather strange feeling in their stomachs.
"What the hell was that?" the young man asked, honestly quite annoyed that whatever it had been had just ruined his romantic moment.
"I don't know," she replied, her voice barely more than a whisper, failing to hide her growing panic. "But let's get out of here—please!" the girl begged her boyfriend as she jumped to her feet, instinctively overwhelmed by a deep sense of terror that made her skin crawl.
"That sounded almost like a gunshot! We should leave!" she insisted, gripping her partner's arm with desperate strength.
"No, that wasn't a gunshot… It's probably just some kids setting off firecrackers. Calm down, I'll go take a quick look, alright?" the young man said. Like many other young men in the world, his hormones made him incompatible with common sense—especially when pretty girls were involved.
The girl, of course, tried to plead with him, attempting to dissuade him from what was, in her eyes, a clearly suicidal idea, calling after him as he walked away. However, he had already made up his mind and smiled reassuringly, never once realizing that she was more concerned for her own safety than for his.
As for him, he simply climbed the slope of the dune "stealthily." Upon reaching the top, he peeked his head over the edge and saw only a fragment of what appeared, at first glance, to be a charred black piece of fabric. Possibly nothing more than a trash bag gently shifting in the light breeze blowing on the other side of the dune.
He let out a sigh of relief and turned back to reassure his girlfriend, about to tell her that there was nothing dangerous there. At that very moment, as if fate itself were mocking him, a second crack—far more powerful than the first—caught his attention, followed by an intense flash of light directly above his head.
When he looked up to see what the hell was happening, he realized that something had appeared roughly three meters above him—or rather, something that was about to strike him on the head.
The combination of the sheer unexpectedness of the situation and the intense flash—powerful enough to generate heat of its own—finally triggered his fight-or-flight instinct. With little time to react more effectively, he chose to throw himself forward just in time. He narrowly avoided whatever it was that had been about to hit him by mere centimeters. The price, however, was tumbling down to the bottom of the dune, sand finding its way into every crevice of his body—including some he hadn't even known he possessed.
While this was happening, the girl couldn't stop the fear that had seized her earlier from intensifying even further. The second flash overwhelmed her; the heat it radiated was so intense that she could feel it burning her skin, even from a distance.
Unable to understand what the hell was going on, and at the same time unwilling to draw more attention to the situation, she could only remain frozen in place. Her body began to tremble. She fell into a small internal crisis, as her common sense and instinct for self-preservation screamed at her to run and get to safety. However, her heart refused to let her leave without knowing that her boyfriend was safe and sound.
The result was that her body remained motionless, unable either to approach or to flee.
Back at the top of the dune, right where the object had impacted, the unmistakable creak of leather was heard, followed by the sound of bones trying to realign themselves.
"Damn it," a voice was heard muttering. "Mental note: tell Azazel we need to improve the landing."
"Azazel? Improve the landing? Who the hell are you talking to? What the hell was all this?" the young man shouted as he struggled to his feet. He was covered in sand and visibly furious about the situation. "You almost landed on me, asshole. Where the hell did you come from?"
The figure atop the dune finished straightening up, ignoring the young man's outburst. He brushed the sand from his vivid red hair and, after briefly narrowing his eyes, let out a deep sigh.
"There had to be witnesses," he murmured.
He shook his head and began to descend the dune calmly, making motions with his hand that summoned a powerful white light, flooding the area.
"Look, kid, it's nothing personal, but… this is top secret, and I can't let you talk about it to anyone. Odds are your government would try to eliminate you for, you know, knowing too much," he said in a calm, even voice. That composure only strengthened the young man's belief that the stranger intended to kill him to keep him quiet. Why the hell hadn't he listened to his girlfriend and left when he had the chance?
Still backing away in an attempt to put distance between himself and the man who was clearly approaching with the intent to kill him, he tripped over something that appeared directly beneath his feet. This caused his would-be murderer to glance downward, illuminating with the light in his hand the object he had stumbled over.
This allowed the young man to see clearly the object he had thought was a black bag only minutes earlier, but now recognized as a body covered by some kind of dark cloak.
"Well, at least that confirms we can send people alive or dead… that'll help with a few things," the madman murmured before lifting his gaze, as if trying to make sense of his surroundings.
"Hey… where are we?" he asked with the same calmness he had shown so far.
The young man, who had never seen a corpse in his life and definitely didn't want to become one, chose maximum cooperation, hoping it might save his life.
"Malibu," he replied almost instantly.
"Of course it had to be America… Now I'll have to put up with Mimosa lecturing me about injuries I don't even have," the redhead complained, confusing the young man even further.
"Mimosa? Look, man, I don't know what you took or what planet you're from, but… I'm going home, okay?" the young man said, trying to sound as calm and steady as possible.
"Oh, right. I need to erase your memory and take you home," the redhead said, suddenly remembering his plan. Even if he didn't like 'non-magicals,' killing them would only cause problems.
The boy simply blinked, completely baffled by the… rather sudden statement.
"Jhony, help me!"
His girlfriend's scream from the other side of the dune yanked him brutally back to reality: he hadn't come alone—and she clearly needed him right now.
"Lizzy!" he whispered in panic—the young man now identified as Johny—before sprinting toward the top of the sand dune as if his life depended on it. Behind him, the confused redhead simply snapped his fingers, causing the light he had conjured to vanish.
"What kind of person leaves their date alone in a potentially dangerous situation?" the redhead wondered aloud, shaking his head. He should have known the 'Yankee' military would show up soon. Oh well—nothing a few stun shots and memory wipes couldn't fix. But first… he had to save the skin of an idiotic teenager and his pet with no common sense.
(Author's note: the idiotic teenager is the girl.)
Reaching the top of the dune revealed a shocking scene: a group of roughly twenty men, dressed in military gear and armed with rifles and flashlights, had surrounded his girlfriend. They were shouting at her to get on the ground.
The sight only fueled his rage and made him rush toward her, suddenly forgetting about his own safety. As he approached, one of the men spotted him out of the corner of his eye, aimed his flashlight at him, and fired a warning shot into the sand, right at his feet.
"Get down!" he shouted.
At the command, Johny simply dropped to his knees and raised his hands, not knowing what to do or what to think. All he could do was watch as two men from the group ran toward him.
However, to his mild astonishment, he soon saw several streaks of red light falling from the sky like flares. They struck two soldiers, who collapsed to the ground as if they had been shot in the head. Naturally, this caused the rest of the soldiers to open fire at something—or someone—behind him.
The last things he heard were the sound of an alarm and bullets striking something. At some point, he felt a blow to his back, and the final words he caught before everything faded to darkness were, "You're going to owe me big time, Johny." Then there was nothing but blackness.
A sudden jolt tore him from his sleep.
He bolted upright in his bed, his heart pounding in his chest like a jackhammer. He didn't remember why, nor how.
He calmed down quickly and, once steady, reached to his right for his phone to check the time: 2:13 a.m. He had a message from Lizzy.
Weren't we supposed to see each other tonight?
The message had arrived barely a minute ago.
Maybe that was what had woken him up… which didn't make much sense, since he usually put his phone on silent before going to sleep. It wasn't the first time he'd forgotten, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.
Not that I remember. Did I forget we had plans or something? he asked with genuine confusion, unable to recall any date but taking the opportunity to keep the conversation going.
No, it's just that… I had the strange feeling we were going to see each other today, she replied almost instantly.
You just finished one of your horror books and you're looking for someone to talk to, right? Johny asked.
No! I just woke up, my heart was racing and I don't know why; I thought I'd forgotten something, Lizzy answered quickly.
Want me to sneak over to your place? I could come keep you company, Johny joked.
No, we'll see each other tomorrow. Good night, Johnny, Lizzy replied.
Good night, Lizzy. Sleep well.
With that, the conversation ended. He set the phone down and lay there with a silly smile on his face. He didn't know why, but something told him that his relationship was going to be incredibly great from that point on.
Of course, he would never remember the near-death experience he had gone through just a few hours earlier.
End of Chapter